Catholic Diocese of Richmond, Virginia Bicentennial Logo
CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
BICENTENNIAL LOGO COMPETITION 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Creative Brief ...... 3
Submission Information Technical Specifications and Guidelines ...... 4 Intake of Submission Process for the Bicentennial Logo ...... 5 Submission Form ...... 6
Bicentennial Information Explanation of the Bicentennial Motto ...... 7 Bicentennial Prayer ...... 8
Historical Background of the Diocese of Richmond Brief History of the Diocese of Richmond ...... 9 Exposition of the Coat of Arms of the Diocese of Richmond ...... 12 Saints of Particular Importance to the Diocese of Richmond ...... 16
Acknowledgements ...... 28
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CREATIVE BRIEF
The Catholic Diocese of Richmond seeks a logo (corporate identity) to brand its upcoming bicentennial (1820–2020). The winning design will succinctly capture and vividly express the bicentennial motto: “Shine like stars in the world, as you hold fast to the word of life” (Phil 2:15– 16).
This packet contains the following background information to assist artists in crafting and submitting their logo:
1. Explanation of the Bicentennial Motto
2. Bicentennial Prayer
3. Brief History of the Diocese of Richmond
4. Exposition of the Coat of Arms of the Diocese of Richmond
5. Saints of Particular Importance to the Diocese of Richmond
6. Technical Specifications Regarding the Bicentennial Logo Design and its Submission
7. Submission Form to Accompany the Logo Design
8. Intake of Submissions for the Bicentennial Logo
There is no requirement for artists to incorporate the diocesan coat of arms or images of the saints in the logo design, although this could be done. These items are intended as sources of inspiration. Likewise, the logo should appear without motto, although it may eventually be used in conjunction with it.
A cash prize of $750 will be awarded to the winner of the competition. Additionally, the winner will have the honor of seeing his or her design emblazoned on communications and products of the Diocese of Richmond in celebration of a monumental anniversary—one that only six other dioceses in the United States have reached.
The Diocese of Richmond will retain copyright of the logo. Contestants grant the Diocese of Richmond the right to alter any submitted design for aesthetic and/or technical reasons.
The deadline for submitting an entry is April 30, 2019.
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TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS AND GUIDELINES REGARDING THE BICENTENNIAL LOGO DESIGN AND ITS SUBMISSION
The logo design will be preferably rendered digitally, using a vector-based software (e.g., Adobe Illustrator, InDesign) or another application (e.g., Photoshop, Canva). Alternatively, the logo design may be hand drawn. In any case, the final format submitted for consideration should be a .pdf file. The winner may be asked to provide other file formats for rendering purposes (.ai, .png, etc.)
The logo design must be submitted electronically to [email protected].
Each contestant may submit up to three (3) entries.
The deadline for submitting an entry is April 30, 2019. 5
INTAKE OF SUBMISSION PROCESS FOR THE BICENTENNIAL LOGO
1. All submissions for the competition received at [email protected] will receive acknowledgment of receipt via email.
2. The Bicentennial Project Manager will print each submission form.
3. The Bicentennial Project Manager will complete the “For Internal Use Only” section of the Submission Form, assigning each entry a number. The number will be recorded on the Submission Form and logo. The Submission Form will be filed separately.
4. All identifying names and markings will be removed from the logo.
5. The judging will be anonymous. No identifying information will be made available to the judges.
6. The judges will be comprised of members of the Diocesan Bicentennial Task Force. The top three logos will be selected and forwarded to the Diocesan Bicentennial Logo Committee to make the final selection.
7. If a contestant contacts the Diocese of Richmond with a question concerning the competition, the call will be forwarded to and addressed by Michael F. School, Director of the Office for Evangelization.
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SUBMISSION FORM CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF RICHMOND BICENTENNIAL LOGO COMPETITION
Full Name:
Address:
City: State: Zip:
Phone number:
Email:
I agree to all the rules and conditions set forth in the Technical Specifications and Guidelines Regarding the Bicentennial Logo and Its Submission document.
Signature: ______
Date: ______
All entries must be received by April 30, 2019.
Include this Submission Form with the logo submission.
All entries must be emailed to [email protected].
For Internal Use Only
Date received: ______
Submission number: ______
Processed by: ______
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EXPLANATION OF THE BICENTENNIAL MOTTO “Shine like stars in the world, as you hold fast to the word of life” (Phil 2:15–16).
Stars offer a fascinating image for a significant anniversary like a bicentennial: When we look at stars, we are actually looking back in time, to the moment when light from those celestial bodies began traveling to our present location. Stars also provide guidance for navigation. In the same way, the commemoration of the bicentennial of the Diocese of Richmond in 2020 will provide a look back in time and will chart the course of this local Church for the future.
The passage from the Letter to the Philippians also illuminates the two vital forces at work in each local Church, which are the themes of the bicentennial: communion and mission. Communion refers to the bonds of fellowship that unite members of the Church to God and to one another. Mission designates the purpose of the Church, which is to proclaim the Good News of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ to all people. Communion keeps the Church intact; mission enables the Church to grow.
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BICENTENNIAL PRAYER OF THE DIOCESE OF RICHMOND
Biblical references appear in brackets, with the text of the passages at the bottom of the page. The translation used is mostly from the New American Bible, revised edition (available at http://usccb.org/bible/books-of-the-bible/index.cfm).
Father of lights [Jas 1:17], the radiance of your Son has guided the advance of the Gospel [Phil 1:12] across the Diocese of Richmond for two centuries, strengthening our Church from the waters of the Eastern Shore to the mountains of the Blue Ridge. Grant that the nearness of your Son [4:5] may dispel the darkness of our sins, so that as our love increases more and more [1:9], we may dare more than ever to proclaim the word fearlessly [1:14]. Holding fast to the word of life, may we shine like stars in the world [2:15–16]. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
Imprimatur: +Barry C. Knestout Bishop of Richmond
©2018 Catholic Diocese of Richmond
Biblical references in the bicentennial prayer
“All good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (Jas1:17)
“I want you to know, brothers, that my situation has turned out rather to advance the gospel” (Phil 1:12)
“The Lord is near” (4:5)
“That your love may increase more and more” (1:9)
“So that the majority of brothers of the brothers… dare more than ever to proclaim the word fearlessly” (1:14)
“Shine like stars in the world as you hold fast to the word of life” (2:15–16)
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BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DIOCESE OF RICHMOND
The Diocese of Richmond, formed from America’s first diocese, the Archdiocese of Baltimore, is among the nation’s eight oldest Catholic dioceses.
Erected by decree of Pope Pius VII on July 11, 1820, the Diocese encompassed the entire state of Virginia, including what is now West Virginia.
There were few Catholics within that vast territory between the Atlantic Ocean and the Ohio River. Harsh laws had discouraged them from settling in colonial Virginia. It was not until the passing of Thomas Jefferson’s Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom in 1786 that Catholics were free to worship openly in the Old Dominion. Within 10 years, Catholic communities began to form. St. Mary’s at Alexandria was established in 1795 as the first Catholic church in Virginia. Records from 1794 show that the Catholic congregation in Norfolk owned a parcel of land for religious purposes.
More precisely, the Norfolk land was held by the Norfolk Catholic community’s lay trustees. It was their conflict with their pastor over this land that prompted Vatican authorities to persuade the pope to set up a Virginia diocese with a residential bishop to suppress the “Norfolk Schism.” As the first Bishop of Richmond, the Pope chose Father Patrick Kelly, then president of St. John’s Seminary, Birchfield, Ireland. He was consecrated bishop in St. James Chapel, Dublin on August 24, 1820.
Arriving in Norfolk the following January, Bishop Kelly found that, not only was his congregation sorely disunited, it was also too poor to support a bishop and his work. The new bishop was forced to support himself by operating a school.
Obtaining permission to return to Ireland, Bishop Kelly left Virginia in July, 1822 without ever having visited his see city, Richmond, which had no organized Catholic community at that time. For the next 19 years, the Diocese of Richmond was under the administration of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. In 1841, Pope Gregory XVI restored the Diocese to independent administration and appointed Father Richard Vincent Whelan as its second bishop. Bishop Whelan was the first of four Baltimore natives to head the Richmond diocese.
On a pastoral visit to the far western areas of his diocese, Bishop Whelan found large and growing communities of Irish and Italian Catholics who were pushing the new railroad through the mountains. He stayed to serve them and, in 1850, became the first Bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling which encompassed all of Virginia west of the Allegheny Mountains and west of Maryland.
Arriving in Richmond in December 1850, Bishop John McGill, a native of Philadelphia and formerly a priest of the Diocese of Bardstown, Kentucky, found a diocese numbering around 7,000 Catholics, served by eight priests and worshiping in 10 churches, including the Cathedral of St. Peter, which had been built in 1834.
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Bishop McGill’s service as Richmond’s third ordinary spanned 21 years, a period in which Virginia was scourged by yellow fever and cholera epidemics, racked by the Civil War and plagued by the anti-Catholic bigotry of Know-Nothingism.
After his death in 1872, Bishop McGill was succeeded by Bishop James Gibbons, the Vicar- Apostolic of North Carolina, who would later become the renowned Cardinal Archbishop of Baltimore. Bishop Gibbons drew on his experience as the spiritual leader of Virginia’s Catholic minority to write the book “Faith of Our Fathers,” a celebrated exposition of Catholic beliefs. The work, published in 1876, went through numerous printings and was translated into several languages.
Upon the transfer of Bishop Gibbons to Baltimore, John Joseph Keane, a native of Ireland and a Washington, D.C. pastor, was named Richmond’s fifth bishop in 1878. He was the first Catholic bishop to be consecrated in Richmond. Bishop Keane was responsible for bringing the Josephite Fathers into the Diocese to serve the black Catholic community. He was also instrumental in the foundation of The Catholic University of America and became its first rector.
Bishop Keane was succeeded in 1889 by Bishop Augustine Van de Vyver, a native of Belgium. He had served as a missionary priest in the western part of the Diocese and later as Vicar General before being named bishop. During his 22 years as ordinary, Bishop Van de Vyver founded 12 parishes and built 32 churches, including the present Cathedral of the Sacred Heart (1906).
After Bishop Van de Vyver’s death, Bishop Denis Joseph O’Connell became Richmond’s seventh ordinary in 1912. Another native of Ireland and originally a priest of the Richmond Diocese, Bishop O’Connell had served as the Rector of the North American College in Rome and as Auxiliary Bishop of San Francisco. He served 14 years, resigning in 1926 due to illness. Bishop Andrew James Brennan, a native of Towanda, Pennsylvania and the Auxiliary Bishop of Scranton, Pennsylvania, was installed as Richmond’s eighth bishop on December 16, 1926. Less than eight years later, he suffered a stroke that cut short his service to the Diocese.
Msgr. Peter Leo Ireton from Baltimore became Apostolic Administrator and Coadjutor Bishop of Richmond in 1935 and the ninth ordinary in 1945. Bishop Ireton guided the Diocese during 22 years of rapid growth. Its population expanded from 37,000 in 1935 to 147,000 in 1958. During Bishop Ireton’s ministry, 42 parishes were established and 24 schools built.
Five months after Bishop Ireton’s death in 1958, Bishop John Joyce Russell of Charleston, South Carolina, a Baltimore native, became Richmond’s tenth bishop. Ahead of Bishop Russell lay the task of guiding the Diocese through a period of the most far-reaching change in the Catholic Church in four centuries. It was a change that Bishop Russell, as a father of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) had helped to bring about.
Because of the Council, Richmond was one of the first four dioceses in the nation to establish a Commission on Ecumenical Affairs (1963). In 1966, a Diocesan Pastoral Council and a Council of Priests were established in answer to Vatican II’s call for bishops to share responsibility for governing their dioceses.
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After Bishop Russell’s retirement, Bishop Walter Francis Sullivan, a native of Washington, D.C. and auxiliary bishop of this diocese, was named the eleventh Bishop of Richmond in 1974. At the same time, the Diocese of Arlington was formed from 21 Northern Virginia counties. The “new” Diocese of Richmond, which came into being August 13, 1974, comprised some 33,000 square miles and included the remaining 74 counties of the state, essentially the southern three-fifths of Virginia. Bishop Sullivan continued the Ecumenical work of the Diocese and expanded social outreach across the Diocese.
Bishop Sullivan retired in 2003 after nearly thirty years as ordinary, and he was succeeded by Bishop Francis Xavier DiLorenzo, a Philadelphia native and formerly the Bishop of Honolulu, who was installed as the twelfth Bishop of Richmond on May 24, 2004. Bishop DiLorenzo, in partnership with Bishop Loverde of the Diocese of Arlington, established the Virginia Catholic Conference to advance the mutual public-policy interests of the Commonwealth’s two Catholic dioceses. Bishop DiLorzenzo worked to help make Catholic schools available, accessible, and affordable to all Catholic parents and their children. Under his leadership, the Annual Diocesan Appeal was significantly remodeled to focus on supporting vital ministries such as in cultivating the next generation of Catholic leaders, seminarian education, health insurance for retired priests, emergency assistance through the Fuel and Hunger Fund.
After Bishop DiLorzenzo’s death in August, 2017, Bishop Barry C. Knestout, a native of Cheverly, Maryland, and a priest and auxiliary bishop of Washington, D.C., became the thirteenth bishop of Richmond on January 12, 2018. In that role, he has care for the more than 200,000 Catholics, 200 priests, 140 deacons, and 142 parishes in the diocese. 12
EXPOSITION OF THE COAT OF ARMS OF THE DIOCESE OF RICHMOND
The Arms of the Diocese of Richmond: Origins and Design1
Arms of the Diocese of Richmond Blazon: Argent, an orle gules, over all on a bend azure three stars of the field.
Chad M. Krouse July 23, 2014
1 Used with permission. 13
Ecclesiastical heraldry experienced a major renewal in the early part of the 20th Century mainly due to the singular efforts of Pierre de Chaignon la Rose (1872-1941) who held court in the confines of Harvard Yard in Cambridge, Massachusetts.2 La Rose was responsible for designing armorial bearings for some twenty-two dioceses of the Episcopal Church and fifty-three archdioceses and dioceses of the Roman Catholic Church in America. In addition to his ecclesiastical work that also included abbatial and seminary arms, la Rose devised arms for many prominent colleges and universities such as the University of Chicago, Notre Dame, Boston College, and the Catholic University of America. He also devised arms for several of the iconic graduate schools of Harvard.3 Ever the aesthete, la Rose was deeply involved with the Harvard literary scene and penned articles on Lord Byron in The Atlantic Monthly and a book on Henry James. Heraldry, however, was his chief delight as well as his lasting legacy. In a sense, la Rose saw his calling as that of a “heraldic archeologist,” basing everything on sound, scholarly research. He deplored the casual, armchair amateur who would devise arms without the necessary grounding in the subject only to perpetuate unfounded myths surrounding heraldry. La Rose burst onto the ecclesiastical field at a time of renewed interest in the subject of heraldry in America, and he saw as his purpose to correct the wrongs inflicted on coat-armor following the Revolution. It was his work as a heraldic archeologist that crafted the armorial bearings for the Diocese of Richmond.
The Diocese of Richmond was created on July 11, 1820 by a papal degree from Pope Pius VIII (1742-1823) and was shortly thereafter under the administration of the Archdiocese of Baltimore from 1822 until 1841 when Pope Gregory XVI (1765-1846) restored its sovereignty. La Rose was enlisted to devise arms for the new bishop of Richmond, Denis Joseph O'Connell who was named to the see in 1912.4 It is worth noting that Bishop O'Connell prior to being named to the see of Richmond, was consecrated as an Auxiliary Bishop for the Archdiocese of San Francisco by a former Bishop of Richmond, James Cardinal Gibbons the Archbishop of Baltimore. La Rose had devised arms for Cardinal Gibbons in 1911 marking a significant coup for the heraldic artist.5 La Rose writes:
For an Ordinary to change his official coat-of-arms is a matter not lightly undertaken. The mere question of expense alone is a grave one...That the Cardinal Archbishop of Baltimore should determine to make this change should be a matter of general significance to the American Hierarchy. The precedent established by His Eminence signifies that the time has now passed when the high dignitaries of the Church can be content with the slovenly, unscholarly heraldry which has hitherto been characteristic of the majority of episcopal armorial bearings.6
2 La Rose was born in Albany, New York and was the son of a French-Canadian immigrant, Anthime F. La Rose. Pierre was graduated from Philips Exeter Academy and Harvard College in 1895. He would teach English at Harvard and counted future US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Class of 1904, as one of his pupils. See “Franklin Roosevelt at Harvard” by John T. Bethell in Harvard Magazine, November–December 1996. 3 The arms of Harvard Business School, Dentistry, Divinity, Medicine, and Law among others were the result of la Rose. See “A Harvard Amory: Part I” by Mason Hammond in Harvard Library Bulletin, Vol. XXIX, July 1981, pages 261–297. 4 See “Coats of Arms of the Bishops of Lead, Cheyenne, Richmond, Corpus Christi, and Matanzas,” by Pierre de Chaignon la Rose in The Ecclesiastical Review, Vol. XLIX, July 1913, pages 90–97. In each instance, la Rose designed the impaled arms of the prelate and created the diocesan arms in the process. 5 “The Arms of His Eminence Cardinal Gibbons,” by Pierre de Chaignon la Rose in The Ecclesiastical Review, Vol. XLV, July 1911, page 2.
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It is this recurring Baltimore influence that helps put together the missing pieces of the originator of the diocese’s arms.
La Rose strongly followed the medieval canon of armory that arms should be simple and noble for the sole purpose of identification.
It cannot be too clearly emphasized that at a period when one warrior cased in mail, with lowered visor, was practically indistinguishable from another similarly habited, the primary, essential function of the heraldic charges on his shield and banner was simply to “identify” him to his followers. And therefore today, if a shield of arms is so decorated with fitting heraldic forms as to distinguish it from other shields, it fulfils the only requirement that the most exacting herald can legally demand of it, “Arma sunt distinguendi causa.”7
The methodology of la Rose was simple and classic. In most cases when faced with devising arms for American dioceses, he looked to Europe for precedence. To difference the arms, again for the purposes of identification, he would often take the colors found on the old world shield and reverse them for those in America. The la Rose method of “Americanization” became a hallmark for many devised arms of Roman Catholic dioceses.
For the Diocese of Richmond, la Rose looked to the arms of Richmond in England to find a connection for Richmond, Virginia. The arms of the town (or corporation, proper) bore: gules, an orle argent overall a bend ermine (Figure 1). These arms were granted in the year 1665.8 La Rose looked to these arms for inspiration. He writes:
7 La Rose, “Ecclesiastical Heraldry in America: Certain Popular Errors,” Christian Art, Vol I, May 1907, pages 66– 67. 8 Christopher Clarkson, The History of Richmond, In the County of York. (Richmond: Printed for the author by Thomas Bowman, 1821), 110. 15
Here, as in the case of the arms of the Sees of New Orleans and Toledo [previously devised by la Rose], a study has been made of the arms already connected with the name of the See city, and these arms have been Americanized. The town of Richmond in Yorkshire bears: Gules, an orle argent, over all a bend ermine—that is, a red shield with a narrow silver border set in from the edge, and a broad diagonal stripe of ermine crossing field and border. For the American Richmond, following an early method of ‘differentiation,’ the tinctures [colors] of field and orle are simply reversed.9
Here is where la Rose’s careful research became critical to the Americanization process. He had to come up with new heraldic charges that would represent Virginia’s Richmond and honor the nature of the diocese itself.
The tincture of the diagonal “bend” must now be changed; at once blue suggests itself as completing the Americanization and as the most appropriate background for the silver star of Our Lady, which should certainly appear on a Virginia ecclesiastical coat. Instead of a single star, which would satisfy mere logic, three are used for the added beauty of effect, the number itself always honoring the Blessed Trinity.10
In heraldry, the metals or (gold) and argent (silver) are not considered as tinctures or colors. As such, when argent is used in a blazon it can be illustrated as either silver or white depending on the artist’s preference.
Thus the genius of la Rose’s design was realized in the arms of the Diocese of Richmond. The arms reflect a noble simplicity and combine elements that can be attributed as distinctly catholic. Furthermore, these arms are among the earliest work of la Rose and illustrate his gifts to create enduring arms for his patrons. That the Ordinary and Diocese continue to employ these arms, more than a hundred years later, attest to la Rose’s clear understanding of heraldry and its purposes. His ability to devise a unique coat of arms for the Diocese, with precedence in England albeit with a distinctly American twist, has left the faithful in central Virginia with an enduring symbol of faith and strength.
9 La Rose, “Coats of Arms of the Bishops of Lead, Cheyenne, Richmond, Corpus Christi, and Matanzas,” The Ecclesiastical Review, Vol. XLIX, July 1913, page 93. 10 Ibid., 93–94. 16
SAINTS OF PARTICULAR IMPORTANCE TO THE DIOCESE OF RICHMOND
In responding to the Apostle Paul’s exhortation to “shine like stars in the world” (Phil 2:15), they stand out as heavenly luminaries: the saints. A group of them is particularly important to the Diocese of Richmond: St. Vincent de Paul, St. John Neumann, St. Katharine Drexel, Bl. Francis Xavier Seelos, the Spanish Jesuit Martyrs of Virginia, and Servant of God Frank Parater.
The communion of saints means that we are connected to these holy people. Members of the Church—on earth, in heaven, and in Purgatory—form a “constellation of stars,” bound together by intercession, good example, and divine worship.11
1. St. Vincent de Paul (1581–1660), patron of the Diocese of Richmond
St. Vincent de Paul became the patron of the diocese during the tenure of Richard V. Whelan (1841–1850), the second bishop of Richmond. The French priest’s care for the poor, which included ministering to galley slaves, co-founding the Daughters of Charity, and establishing the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians)—a religious order dedicated to evangelizing rural areas—made him an apt saint to intercede for the Church of Richmond. The Richmond Diocese was vast, encompassing the Commonwealth of Virginia (which at that time included what would become the state of West Virginia), and most Catholics belonged to the working class.
There are two images of St. Vincent de Paul in the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Richmond. Both the statue and stained-glass window depict St. Vincent holding the Christ Child:
11 See Catechism of the Catholic Church, nos. 946–962. 17
A letter from St. Vincent de Paul bears witness to his devotion to the poor:
If you consider the poor in the light of faith, then you will observe that they are taking the place of the Son of God who chose to be poor. …Since God surely loves the poor, he also loves those who love the poor. For when one person holds another dear, he also includes in his affection anyone who loves or serves the one he loves. That is why we hope that God will love us for the sake of the poor. So when we visit the poor and needy, we try to be understanding where they are concerned. …It is our duty to prefer the service of the poor to everything else and to offer such service as quickly as possible. …With renewed devotion, then, we must serve the poor, especially outcasts and beggars. They have been given to us as our masters and patrons.12
In venerating St. Vincent de Paul, the Church prays the following prayer on his feast day (September 27):
O God, who for the relief of the poor and the formation of the clergy endowed the Priest Saint Vincent de Paul with apostolic virtues, grant, we pray, that, afire with that same spirit, we may love what he loved and put into practice what he taught. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.13
12 St. Vincent de Paul, Epist. 2546, Office of Readings, Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul (September 27), in Liturgy of the Hours, vol. 4, pp. 1424–1425. 13 Collect, Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul (September 27), Roman Missal. 18
2. St. John Neumann (1811–1860)
In September, 1842, Father John Nepomucene Neumann, a Redemptorist priest from what is today the Czech Republic, preached an eight-day mission to German Catholics in the basement of Saint Peter’s Cathedral in Richmond.14 Neumann, a devoted pastor to immigrants, later became the bishop of Philadelphia (1852), a champion of Catholic schools, and the first American bishop to be canonized (1977). He died at the age of 48, having collapsed on a Philadelphia street.
Given the vast territory he oversaw as bishop, Neumann sought to divide the Diocese of Philadelphia into two, one urban diocese and the other a rural diocese. He offered to take charge of the latter, which would have been less prestigious, or even to resign as bishop altogether. His letter to the cardinal at the Vatican in charge of foreign missions (Propaganda Fidei) gives evidence of his humility:
I was no little disturbed by the fear that I had done something that so displeased the Holy Father that my resignation would appear desirable to him. If this be the case, I am prepared without any hesitation to leave the episcopacy. I have taken this burden out of obedience, and I have labored with all my powers to fulfill the duties of my office, and with God’s help, as I hope, not without fruit. …
Although my coadjutor has proposed to me that he would take the new see if it is erected, I have thought it much more opportune and I have asked the Fathers that he be appointed to the See of Philadelphia, since he is much more highly endowed with facility and alacrity concerning the administration of temporal things. Indeed, I am much more accustomed to the country, and will be able to care for the people and faithful living in the mountains, in the coal mines and on the farms, since I would be among them.
If, however, it should be displeasing to His Holiness to divide the diocese, I am, indeed, prepared either to remain in the same condition in which I am at present, or if God so inspires His Holiness to give the whole administration of the diocese to the Most Reverend James Wood, I am equally prepared to resign from the episcopate and to go where I may more securely prepare myself for death and for the account which must be rendered to the Divine Justice.15
The Church observes the Memorial of St. John Neumann on January 5, using the following prayer that summarizes his life:
O God, who called the Bishop Saint John Neumann, renowned for his charity and pastoral service, to shepherd your people in America, grant by his intercession that as we foster the Christian education of youth and are strengthened by the witness of brotherly love,
14 Robert J. Brennan, O.S.B., A History of St. Mary’s Church, Richmond, Virginia (Richmond, 1962), p. 1. 15 St. John Neumann, Letter to Cardinal Alessandro Barnabò, Office of Readings, Memorial of St. John Neumann (January 5), in Liturgy of the Hours, vol. 1. 19
we may constantly increase the family of your Church. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.16
16 Collect, Memorial of St. John Neumann (January 5), Roman Missal. 20
3. St. Katharine Drexel (1858–1955)
A wealthy Philadelphia heiress, Katherine Drexel used her fortune to support charitable causes, including the work of the religious order she founded to care for blacks and Indians (Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament). Drexel opened two schools in the Diocese of Richmond for blacks, both of them in Rock Castle (Powhatan): St. Emma’s Industrial and Agricultural College (1895) for boys, and St. Francis de Sales School for girls (1899).
In early 1900, while at a train stop in Columbia, Virginia, Mother Drexel saw a cross through the trees and inquired of her traveling companion, a religious sister of her order, whether it might be a Catholic church. Later, that sister, upon learning that it was a Catholic church, began a Sunday school for children. Today the place is the St. Joseph Shrine of St. Katharine Drexel.
In 2000, Katharine Drexel became the second American-born saint to be canonized.
Drexel’s devotion to the Eucharist, reflected in the name she chose for her religious order, animated her work, as she wrote in the following instruction:
Let us profit of Holy Mass to address to God our ardent prayers to draw upon ourselves and upon the Indian and Black peoples the graces that will save them (us), uniting ourselves to the Adorable Victim in the Holy Sacrifice…
“Ask and you shall receive,” is the exhortation of our Lord. We see the practical demonstration of this in his own life, for when he sat weary by the well of Jacob, hot and tired, he condescended to ask a Samaritan woman to give him to drink, but immediately leads her to ask of him the “living water.” All-powerful as he was, and thirsting for her salvation, he, the divine Word, would not give her the “living water” unless she asked it of him. We know him and are enabled by faith to pierce the veil and ask of him the “living water.” Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament yearns no less now to give this “living water” to souls like that Samaritan woman.
Therefore, we pray for ourselves, for the community, for all its works: for the graces that will enable you to carry the teachings of our Lord to the Indian and Black Peoples; graces that will cause your word to fructify; graces that will make of you apostles imbued with a lively faith to animate those with whom you come in contact, and with an ardent love of God to enable you not only to love him personally, but to bring others to participate in this love for him.17
17 St. Katharine Drexel, Directives and Customs of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament: Archives of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, Office of Readings, Memorial of St. Katharine Drexel (March 3), in Liturgy of the Hours, vol. 2.
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The Church prays the following prayer on the feast day of St. Katharine Drexel (March 3):
God of love, you called Saint Katharine Drexel to teach the message of the Gospel and to bring the life of the Eucharist to the Native American and African American peoples; by her prayers and example, enable us to work for justice among the poor and the oppressed, and keep us undivided in love in the eucharistic community of your Church. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.18
18 Collect, Memorial of St. Katharine Drexel (March 3), Roman Missal. 22
4. Bl. Francis Xavier Seelos (1819–1867)
In 1862, Confederate troops began shelling Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia. Local priests from Norfolk had been going by boat to minister to Union troops who were Catholic, but hostilities prevented them from continuing. John McGill, the third bishop of Richmond (1850–1872), then contacted the archbishop of Baltimore for help.
In response, Redemptorist priests were dispatched from Annapolis, Maryland, traveling each weekend down the Chesapeake Bay to Fort Monroe. Among the priests who celebrated Mass, heard confessions, and cared for the sick was the kindly Father Francis Xavier Seelos. Like his mentor and colleague, St. John Neumann, Seelos was a missionary (from what is today Germany). The “cheerful ascetic,” as he was known, who was also an avid letter writer, ministered at Fort Monroe for a brief time beginning in December, 1862. Seelos was beatified in 2000.
Father Seelos described his experience at Fort Monroe in a letter to his brother:
I got a call to go to Fortress Monroe—you have probably often read about it in the papers during this unholy war—to give spiritual help to the unfortunate soldiers in the hospital there... After our arrival at Fortress Monroe, we went first to the church; it is small but very pretty. We had to set up our living quarters in the sacristy, and light a fire as best we could. …The Mass began at eleven o’clock and at it I preached in English. It was around one o’clock when everything was over, and I had made my thanksgiving after Mass. …Returning to the church, I heard confessions until midnight, and when I had finished, divine Providence arranged it that a soldier brought us to his house for supper. He was a farmer from the Rhineland who was married to an Irish woman. He hosted us with the greatest joy and loaded us with woolen blankets. This was fortunate, because it was still so cold that even with all the blankets, I woke up several times during the night from the cold.
On Monday, December 8, after the Mass, a carriage was waiting for us and brought us to the hospital that lies opposite the fort two miles from the church, near the town of Hampton that has been completely destroyed by the Southerners. There is only a big pile of ruins left. This hospital consists of twenty-one large barracks in which there are about fifty beds. The officers were most obliging and polite. Most of the sick were not so sick that they had to stay in bed but could walk around, and almost all of them could come to the room that was separated from the big sick ward, and there I heard their confession. … I was richly repaid by the fine attitude of the soldiers, most of whom had not been to confession for three or four years. For many it was even longer, and with several, twenty years. Some did not even know the principal truths of our holy faith and so you see, dear brother, that my stay there was very much needed.19
19 Bl. Francis Xavier Seelos, Letter to his Brother (December 8, 1862), on the website of the National Seelos Shrine: http://www.seelos.org/lifeWritings2.html. 23
The Church observes the feast day of Bl. Francis Xavier Seelos (October 5) using the following prayer:
O God, who made your Priest Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos outstanding in love, that he might proclaim the mysteries of redemption and comfort those in affliction, grant, by his intercession, that we may work zealously for your glory and for the salvation of mankind. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.20
20 Collect, Memorial of Bl. Francis Xavier Seelos (October 5), on the website of the National Seelos Shrine and Seelos Center: http://www.seelos.org/seelos_liturgy_mass_proper_collect.html. 24
5. Spanish Jesuit Martyrs of Virginia (d. 1571)
The first missionaries in Virginia were Catholic, and their expedition ended in martyrdom. On September 10, 1570, eight Spanish Jesuits, along with a boy, disembarked near the future site of Williamsburg, in a region the natives called Ajacán and which the Spanish claimed as part of la Florida. This arrival took place 37 years before the first permanent English settlement in America at Jamestown (1607). (Coincidentally, the Spanish mission was in the vicinity of the later English colony.)
The Spanish Jesuit missionaries included two priests: Fathers Juan Baptista de Segura and Luis de Quirós; three religious brothers: Gabriel Gómez, Sancho Zeballos, and Pedro Mingot de Linares; and three catechists: Gabriel de Solís, Juan Baptista Méndez, and Cristóbal Redondo. The boy, Alonso de Olmos, accompanied the Jesuits to serve Mass for them.
A native of the region who had been baptized earlier, Don Luis de Velasco, betrayed the missionaries and, together with other members of his Chischiack tribe, slaughtered them between February 4 and 9, 1571. Only the child survived the massacre, and was rescued after living with his captors for a year.
Notably, sometime between the Jesuits’ arrival on September 10, 1570 and the first deaths on February 4, 1571, the three catechists professed religious vows and entered the Society of Jesus as novices.21 These were the first religious vocations in Virginia.
In the decades following the Jesuit mission, Spain mostly abandoned the East Coast of North America (except for the Florida peninsula with its strategic fort at St. Augustine). Still, the memory of the Jesuits’ martyrdom endured. Their sacrifice “consecrated” the territory in which the Diocese of Richmond would later develop, according to the saying of Tertullian (160–220 A.D.), a priest of the early Church: “The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians.”22
Eight months after the Jesuits were killed, Father Juan Rogel, a fellow Jesuit, gave an account of his missionary work to the superior general of his religious order in Rome. He narrated what had befallen his colleagues, based on the testimony of the rescued boy, Alonso:
On the Sunday after the feast of the Purification, Don Luis came to the three Jesuits who were returning with other Indians. He sent an arrow through the heart of Father Quirós and then murdered the rest who had come to speak with him. Immediately Don Luis went on to the village where the Fathers were, and … at the head of a large group of Indians, killed the five who waited there. …This boys says that when he saw them killing the Fathers and Brothers, he sought to go among the Indians as they inflicted the wounds so that they might kill him too. For it seemed better to him to die with Christians than live alone with Indians. A brother of Don Luis took him by the arm and did not let him go. This happened five or
21 Clifford M. Lewis, S.J., and Albert J. Loomie, S.J., Spanish Jesuit Mission in Virginia: 1570–1572 (Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1953), p. 72. 22 Tertullian, Apologeticus (Apology) (197 A.D.), 50, 13: Patrologia Latina: 1, 603, quoted in Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 852. 25
six days after the death of the others. This boy then told Don Luis to bury them since he had killed them, and at least in their burial, he was kind to them.23
The eleventh bishop of Richmond, Walter F. Sullivan introduced the cause of the canonization of the Spanish Jesuit Martyrs of Virginia in 2002.
The following prayer (which may only be used privately), expresses the profound meaning of the martyrs’ sacrifice:
O Lord, for the greater glory of God and the Salvation of Souls, you inspired the Spanish Jesuits, Father Juan Bautista de Segura and his companions to bring the Word of God to the peoples of Virginia, and to lay down their lives in Martyrdom.
Through their intercession bring all people to the unity of the Gospel, and grant me the favor I implore ______and permit the beatification of the Martyrs of Virginia.
I ask this through Christ Our Lord.
Imprimatur: +Walter F. Sullivan Bishop of Richmond
23 Letter of Juan Rogel to Francis Borgia (August 28, 1572), in Lewis and Loomie, Spanish Jesuit Mission in Virginia: 1570–1572, p. 110. 26
6. Servant of God Francis J. Parater (1897–1920)
A Richmond native, Francis (Frank) J. Parater grew up in the Church Hill neighborhood of the city. He was educated at the local Xaverian Brother’s School (later Saint Patrick’s School) and then at Benedictine High School (currently Benedictine College Preparatory School). Throughout his childhood and adolescence, he served Mass each day at the Monte Maria Monastery of the Visitation Sisters close to his home. Frank also became active in the Boy Scouts, attaining the rank of Eagle Scout.
After graduating as valedictorian of his class, Frank began his studies for the priesthood at Belmont Abbey Seminary College near Charlotte, North Carolina. There he fervently observed a rule of life that he had drawn up for himself, which included daily reception of Holy Communion, weekly Confession, and devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and to St. Thérèse of Lisieux.
After Frank decided to become a diocesan priest, Dennis J. O’Connell, the seventh bishop of Richmond (1912–1926), sent him to the Pontifical North American College in Rome for his theological studies. (Bishop O’Connell had previously served as the rector of that seminary.) In Rome, as in Richmond, Frank was admired for his humor, good cheer, and holiness. A fellow seminarian at the North American College, John J. Russell of Baltimore, would remember his classmate’s holiness when he became the tenth bishop of Richmond (1958–1973), naming a summer camp in Frank’s memory.
In January, 1920, Parater contracted rheumatic fever. He died courageously and peacefully on February 7, 1920, at the age of 22. His body was interred in the mausoleum at Campo Verano cemetery in Rome. With his death taking place just five months before the centenary of the Diocese of Richmond (July 11, 1920), the life of Frank Parater could be considered “crown” of holiness that capped the first century of the Church of Richmond.
An Act of Oblation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which Frank had composed, was discovered after his death. This testimony explains the motivation for his heroic life:
I have nothing to leave or give but my life, and this I have consecrated to the Sacred Heart to be used as He wills. I have offered my all for conversions to God of non-Catholics in Virginia. This is what I live for and, in the case of death, what I die for. Death is not unpleasant to me, but the most beautiful and welcome event of life. Death is the messenger of God come to tell us that our novitiate is ended and to welcome us to the real life. Melancholic or morbid sentimentality is not the cause of my writing this, for I love my life here, the College, the men and Rome itself. But I have desired to die and be buried with the saints. I dare not ask God to take me lest I should be ungrateful or be trying to shirk the higher responsibilities of life; but I shall never have less to answer for—perhaps never be better ready to meet my Maker, my God, my All.
Since I was a child I have desired to die for the love of God and for my fellow-man. Whether or not I shall receive that favor I know not but if I live, it is for the same purpose; every action of my life here is offered to God for the spread and success of the Catholic Church in Virginia. … 27
I shall be of more service to my diocese in heaven than I could ever be on earth.24
Bishop Walter F. Sullivan initiated the cause of Frank Parater’s canonization was initiated in 2001. The diocesan phase of the process having been completed, Frank Parater has been granted the title “Servant of God.”
The following prayer (which may only be used privately), expresses the reason for the Church’s veneration of this holy man:
Loving Father, your servant Frank Parater sought perfection as a student, scout and seminarian. He offered himself to you completely through the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Through his intercession, may young people answer your call to follow Jesus as priests, deacons and religious. Grant, as well, the favors I seek, so that your Church will recognize his holiness and proclaim him Blessed. Grant this through Christ our Lord.
Imprimatur: +Walter F. Sullivan Bishop of Richmond
24 Francis J. Parater, Act of Oblation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (December 5, 1919), in Manual of Prayers, 2nd ed. (Woodridge, IL: Midwest Theological Forum, 1998), pp. 300–301. 28
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Excerpts from the New American Bible, revised edition. Copyright © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington D.C., and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
Chad M. Krouse, The Arms of the Diocese of Richmond: Origins and Design, (July 23, 2014). Used with the author’s permission.
The English translation of Non-Biblical Readings from The Liturgy of the Hours © 1973, 1974, 1975, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation (ICEL); excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 2010, ICEL. All rights reserved.
St. Katharine Drexel, Directives and Customs of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament: Archives of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, Office of Readings, Memorial of St. Katharine Drexel (March 3), in Liturgy of the Hours, vol. 2. Used with the permission of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
Bl. Francis Xavier Seelos, Letter to his Brother (December 8, 1862), on the website of the National Seelos Shrine: http://www.seelos.org/lifeWritings2.html. Used with the permission of the National Seelos Shrine.
Letter of Juan Rogel to Francis Borgia (August 28, 1572), in Lewis and Loomie, Spanish Jesuit Mission in Virginia: 1570–1572, p. 110. Used with the permission of the Virginia Historical Society.
Francis J. Parater, Act of Oblation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (December 5, 1919), in Manual of Prayers, 2nd ed. (Woodridge, IL: Midwest Theological Forum, 1998), pp. 300–301. Used with the permission of the Pontifical North American College.